Demand for mortgages rose at the fastest rate in six-years in the final quarter of 2013, boosted by the government's Help to Buy scheme, raising further concerns about its effect on the housing market.

Responding to the Bank of England's quarterly Credit Conditions survey, lenders reported a "significant" rise in demand for mortgages, hitting a balance of 62pc - the highest net balance since the survey started in 2007, and remortgages in the final three months of last year.

Banks and building societies told the central bank that demand was "supported by first-time buyer and homemover interest in the Government's Help to Buy scheme".

But that has raised further concerns about the effect of the scheme and the threat of a housing price bubble.

"Our problem with Help to Buy when it launched was that prices were already to high relative to income and all the scheme is doing is pushing that equilibrium even further," said Phil Lachowycz, UK economist at Fathom Consulting.

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At the end of last year, the Bank of England announced that it was scrapping its Funding for Lending Scheme for mortgages from February to guard against the risk of a house price bubble. The scheme was designed to give banks access to cheap finance in the hope that they would pass on the lower costs to borrowers.

An unexpected response inthe the survey was that lenders did not expect to see a further increase in mortgage demand in the first three months of this year.

But Societe Generale's Brian Hilliard argued that that "seems most unlikely", adding that he expected to see "further strong increases" in demand.

Brian Murphy, head of lending at Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB), also said he expected to see an increased demand among consumers, but argued that the rise in house prices over the past year had been "healthy" and that a willingness of banks to lend to those with low deposits was "especially important" to allow people to get on the property ladder in the face of rising prices.

Lenders reported that there was an increased willingness to lend to people with a mortgage deposit of less than 10pc. The expansion of mortgage availability generally was put down to lenders' increased appetites for risk, rising house prices and banks and building societies looking to meet their market share objectives.

As lenders' risk appetites returned, they relaxed their credit scoring criteria and the proportion of loans being approved rose significantly, the Bank's report said.

Lenders also said that they expect mortgage availability to "significantly increase" in the first quarter of 2014, including deals for borrowers with deposits below 10pc.

The survey coincided with the announcement that the Post Office had signed up to the Government's mortgages guarantee scheme, in partnership with the Bank of Ireland UK, although it did not unveil its rates.

Meanwhile, Santander will launch its Help to Buy mortgage guarantee products on Thursday, with rates of 4.99pc for a two-year fix and 5.49pc for a five-year fix.

Another major lender, Barclays, is expected to unveil the products it plans to offer under the scheme later this month.